Hi, all. It is our pleasure to announce that Matt Wuerker, a 2009 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, has won the prestigious Herblock Prize for editorial cartooning. The prize is awarded each year by the Herb Block Foundation for “distinguished examples of original editorial cartooning that exemplify the courageous standard set by Herblock.”

In nominating Matt for this award, John Harris congratulated him for being “at the top of his game and enjoying it more than ever at a moment when his work matters more than ever.”

“Wuerker is funny – the essential prerequisite for a cartoonist. But his cartoons work for other reasons,” Harris said. “He assumes and appreciates the intelligence of his audience and never forgets, even when his subjects do, the spirit of public interest that should animate the work of important people in Washington.”

In the three years since POLITICO’s launch, Matt has become one of our trademark talents and one of the countryÂ’s most influential cartoonists – both in print and online.

“There’s something very satisfying about contributing to the ongoing political conversation,” Matt once said, “and there’s also something very satisfying when you succeed in making people laugh. Some visual metaphors are more serious than funny, but the ones that I like the best are the ones that combine a certain gravitas with a playfulness that gets people to laugh.” Matt consistently succeeds at both, and has always been a tremendous colleague and POLITICO ambassador.

Please join us at the newsroom buffet to fete Matt and congratulate him on his – and POLITICO’s – latest tremendous achievement.